experiments in music and video on iPads

hardware

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As our software is getting more and more powerful inside laptop computers , ipads and smartphones, musicians can propose more easily open workshops for children or adults . At Audiorama, we are doing a lot in different schools and social centers. When you are going to schools with your equipment nearly every day, you begin to think about less hardware and lighter devices. When you bring 4 to 8 ipads, a laptop, audio and midi interface, a microphone and cables, you can put all these devices in one suitcase or a big backpack and roll it to the classroom. But if you have to bring also the speakers and a mixer, you need at least a second heavy suitcase and you begin to break your back … Well, we did that for years and that was really a problem ! Recently we solved it thanks to 2 wonderful little hardware devices, that we’d like to show you here :
– a very very little console to mix 4 ipads : Rolls MX42 – 4 stereo ins and 1 stereo out, passive, very simple and cheap, 10cm long, a very light but solid little box. And if you need more ipads, buy a second one and plug it to your audio interface. You’re ready to let 8 kids play together on those wonderful ipads synthesizers, samplers, beat makers or any app you like to use.
But now even if they have prepared their individual music parts on little headphones, you want them to play for real on speakers and you know that good speakers are heavy. We tried good but heavy ones and little ones too, but not so good, not enough power, lacking bass frequencies. We discovered one stereo speaker that solved our problem :
– iLoud : very well manufactured by IK Multimedia, this new little box is powerful, clean, stereo in one box and can work on it’s battery power a whole day.We have tested these two devices during the last 4 months at our kids workshops in Florida and in France. It changed our educational practice and you know what : we don’t need any power plug, all the devices run on their own batteries : laptop, interface, mixer, ipads, speaker.
Now don’t misunderstood our intention, this is not advertising. This is just to help you and let all of us think about that hardware problems in our everyday musician’s life.
Bruno de Chénerilles